fluent at last in the languages of the sea

I almost subjected you all to a long rambling about my Swallows and Amazons books, and whether I should buy a particular copy of Missee Lee (one of the three I don't have) that is the same hard-to-find edition as the rest of the series, but is covered in clear film and has library markings on the spine. But while I was writing I realised I could not tolerate either film or markings, that I will likely not be able to remove either without completely ruining the cover and thus defeating the purpose, and that I'd rather wait two/three years for another copy rather than have to look at this one.

So you don't get the rambling after all. Probably you should be thankful.

***

In more delightful news, according to the Armageddon Facebook group and Twitter, Gigi Edgley has been booked for Auckland this year. She hasn't yet made the actual website, but: Chiana!

Oh, this is going to be an expensive autograph year, isn't it? I'm up to four, assuming none of them pull out.

"But go on," said Timothy. "What happened next? How do the police come into it? Once they're in, you never know where they'll stop."

"What do you know about it?" asked Nancy. "Have you ever been wanted by them before?"

"Only in Peru," said Timothy. "Did your Uncle Jim never tell you about that time when he and I ... Oh, never mind about that. Go on. What sort of a mess are we all in now?" - 'The Picts and the Martyrs'

*gigglesnort* Enquiring minds want to know. Can't have been anything too bad if he'd expected Jim to have told the Amazons, but... Captain Flint! and Squashy Hat! in Peru! wanted by the police!

Drabbles, as promised.

aim_toothpaste wanted Lost, with Kate and Sawyer at Christmas.

( For Christmas, Jin gives Sun a nicely polished seashell. )

carlanime asked for "Swallows and Amazons", and Nancy when she isn't being a pirate.

( 'Bother the GA.' )

Swallows and Amazons fans - we're never given a definite age for any of the characters, right, beyond Roger being seven in the first book?

I'm just trying to figure out everyone's ages for a fic I may or may not write. So Roger is seven during the summer of 1929 (according to the parley signed by the Swallows and the Amazons on Wild Cat Island) or 1930 (according to the note they put in the cairn on top of Kanchenjunga in Swallowdale, which is dated 1931).

And if Roger is seven, and the four oldest Walkers are all approximately two years apart in age, that makes Titty nine, Susan eleven, and John 13. And Bridget's maybe two (1929).

I see Nancy and Peggy as being about the same age as John and Susan - so 13 and 11, or about those ages, in 1929.

And then there's Dick and Dot. I'd always had a vague idea they were twins, but there's a scene in Winter Holiday where Dot sees John, Susan, Nancy and Peggy as the "elders", but notes that Peggy probably isn't much older than she is. That suggests that Dot is the older of the two, so in 1929 she was probably ten, and Dick about eight, which puts them at the right age to be equals with Titty and Roger.

Does that sound about right to anyone? It's really just the general ages that matter for what I've got in mind. The idea that's taking shape in my head is set immediately after the Second World War, so I want ages to figure out who was doing what when in the period between Great Northern? and this plot bunny thing. Which, yeah, I might not write, but at the moment it's fun to play around with.